Anti-Arab death threats painted on school in Israel

Dozens of Israeli settlers demonstrate in November in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem against their government's decision to dismantle some of the West Bank settlements.

Credit:

MENAHEM KAHANA

Jerusalem police have said they believe Jewish extremists are responsible for tagging a school and a monastery in Israel with death threats, Haaretz reported today.

A bilingual school for Jewish and Arab children had been a symbol of coexistence in Jerusalem. But vandals tagged "Death to Arabs" in Hebrew on a wall outside the school overnight.

"It wasn't just written here, where young children from the ages 3 to 18 study together in coexistence, for no reason," school principal Nadia Knani told Haaretz. "We are trying to digest these horrifying inscriptions."

A Christian monastery was tagged in Hebrew with a similar message: "Death to Christians." In addition, two cars outside of the monastery had slashed tires. Police said they couldn't confirm whether the same vandals carried out both attacks.

Jerusalem police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Haaretz that the words "price tag" were also sprayed on the monastery in Hebrew. That phrase has been commonly used by the Jewish settlers in the West Bank who have carried out previous vandalism attacks against Palestinians.

“Ninety-two percent of people in Israel respect Christians and Greeks, it’s just the 8 percent that don’t,” Father Claudio, a priest at the monastery, told the Jerusalem Post.

The attacks follow incidents of vandalism on a cab and a building in a West Bank village Saturday night. The Jerusalem Post reported that the cab and building were defaced with the messages "Death to Arabs," "revenge" and "closed military zone."

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in December that Israel's military chief of staff condemned the "price tag" attacks, arguing that they have "characteristics of terrorism."

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